Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State 4, Clarkson 3
10/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Oct. 10, 2009
Michigan State Head Coach Rick Comley
On responding his team responding well to the big win from last night...
Yeah I think so. I thought Clarkson responded really well. I thought they were better tonight and their goaltender was certainly better. He played a heck of a game. He probably let in some last night that he'd like back. There's going to be a lot of close games. I think with a young team we hurt ourselves with avoidable penalties obviously, a little bit sloppy that way. I thought, good opening weekend, gives us something positive to build on.
On having five straight penalties in the second period...
It disrupts everything. Some guys end up sitting and you kind of got to get back in the flow. I thought our power play was really good. I don't know what the numbers were but we had a lot of great scoring chances. And he [Paul Karpowich] made some super saves.
On goaltender Bobby Jarosz's game...
I thought Bobby struggled in the first and played really well in the second and third. I thought he did a really good job. Some saves didn't look difficult but he kept in and around them, there weren't a lot of rebounds and he controlled the pace well. That's a big game for him, I think, mentally.
On Chris Forfar's goal...
I didn't see a stick above the cross bar. It must have been obvious or he wouldn't have overruled the call. We thought that when we looked at it in the press box, that it was a good goal. But you never now for sure what the referee is going to interrupt.
On the mentality of the team compared to last year's team...
I think I'm going to do my best to talk about this team. I like the battle, I like the fact that we had to scrap and we lost the lead and didn't panic and continued to play. We used a lot of players and a lot of guys are getting opportunities in different situations. Last night was college hockey was fun for [Zach] Josepher, tonight not as much fun. Every game is a lesson.
On knowing previously that goaltender Bobby Jarosz was going to start...
We decided before the weekend. We have not decided, by any means, to do it every weekend. But Bobby is going to play.
On Derek Grant's play so far after two games...
He's one of those players who has really good skills who gets scoring chances. He missed a couple of really easy ones that I think that as he settles down a bit that he won't miss them. [Chris] Forfar's a really really good player. I don't know how much you guys notice him. He's smart, and he wins faceoffs. He's strong, he's a really, really good, good player.
On Jeff Petry's game...
[He had] a solid weekend. I thought very controlled, no anxiety whatsoever. He had a lot of shots through and his skill is with the puck on his stick and he was very good that way. And [Torey] Krug also. Krug's really smart. [He's] a talented player and they compliment each other. Matt Crandell, as I told you last night, I thought has really stepped up his game. If you noticed he and [Brock] Shelgren are on the ice a lot. The encouraging thing is that those three sophomore defensemen, including [Tim] Buttery, have improved a lot. But we all know what college hockey is today.
On the singing the fight song in the locker room after the game...
Yeah, we did. Any time you win two, there's nothing like winning. It builds something positive, both internal and external.
On expecting to score 10 goals this weekend...
I thought we really upgraded the offense part of our team and its practice that you see it in. And we all know Allen Iverson is not a big fan of practice. But we're going to score goals. We just need to keep working and getting better and as you know we're playing a new style and they're learning and adjusting with that. I thought Clarkson made a couple of really good adjustments today, stretching players the length of the game. Causing us, our young guys to recognize and react. Good learning points this weekend.
Michigan State Senior Center Sucharski
On winning two this weekend...
Amazing, the boys deserved it, and it was fun as anything. We haven't had a sweep in a long time. It was a good feeling to get back on the right track and we look forward to it happening many times this year.
On how important it was to have a tougher game tonight...
It just showed a lot of character and showed that we are a third period team. That's something we are trying to prove and we really just came out in the third and we won the third period just like we did last night. I'm proud of the boys and that is something we need, game in and game out.
On the powerplay tonight...
The last time we had three goals was my junior year. Having a five goal weekend from the powerplay really makes us feel good about ourselves. We need confidence and that is what we got. Clarkson didn't really come to play the first game and tonight they were out there and they were buzzing and they came back with a house on fire attitude. It's good to have the powerplay and it's good to have the penalty kill.
On the success of penalty kill...
Renny (Brian Renfrew) is giving us some new pointers and new tips. We are just adjusting during the middle of the game. We have three or four groups going at one time and no one is ever tired and that's something that is really good. Rowe and Gazley are doing a great job as well as Forfar and Golembiewski.
On being agreesive trying to make them make points...
I think this season we have more of an aggressive attitude about us. It's something I have talked about many times, you have to fight to be in the lineup and you have to fight to be on the special teams and we didn't really have that a lot last year. Guys are trying a lot harder and I feel like they are giving their best effort right now.
On how he feels after two games...
I just got to start playing again so I'm happy. Winning is always a good feeling and especially having it with tone, you can never have enough tone. As Coach Renfew said you can never have enough tone and he is totally right. We have a lot of fun singing the fight song like that and I hope there is more.
On ten goals in two games, and could this be a team that is going to score a lot of goals...
The greatest thing is having a bunch of guys who can score.You look at the top three lines and on the forth line you have Chelios who has great hands and everyone is a threat. We have a defense that can put the puck in the net. Joespher had four points last night. That is something that helps our confidence as a team because we see a lot and we can score a lot of goals and that is something that we haven't had in a long time.
On winning faceoffs...
We have won a lot of faceoffs we have been trying to get stronger as a group and bringing in the guys we did. The centermen we brought in Golembiewski, Forfar, and are all good guys on their faceoffs. Like I have been preaching, I really like Forfar on the other side and taking some draws on his backside. With him lefty and me on the other side you have two guys you know can win a lot of draws and that is something that coach had a lot of confidence in too. Because getting down to the final seconds of the game you need guys out there who will win the draws. If you win a draw in the penalty kill two you can waste a few seconds sending the puck down the ice. It has been a real plus for us that we have come around on the faceoffs and I hope it continues to go the way it has been.
Michigan State Freshman Center Chris Forfar
Describing the goal...
It was kind of a scrum by the net with Golembiewski and he got a shot off on net and I ended up being in the right place at the right time and batted it in.
On waiting for the puck to go below the crossbar...
I saw it in the air and I didn't know if it was going to go in or if the goalie was going to grab it and I just tried to get a piece of it at my shoulders before the play was dead. The ref made a good call which I was happy about.
On his first career goal...
I can't take too much credit, I was just being lazy on the side of net and my linemen were doing all the work. Like I said, I was just in the right place at the right time.
On the freshman class...
Like coach said before, he expects a lot out of us. We are all pretty big and our average age is 19 and 20 so we have an older class. We just experience the game and we have high expectations for ourselves.
On impressions of his first two college games...
